another medal, another challenge, another nap..

this is all about my first duathlon. if you have no interest in reading this, then i won't be offended. i won't even know! so thanks for stopping by and i'll write about non-jock-y stuff next time...

so. i did it. :)

time out. today had another amazing event going on in memory of a woman who used to live in MN with her beloved, and moved out to LA a few years ago. sadly, Liz Logelin passed away in March right after her daughter was born. Today was the first ever Liz Logelin Memorial 5K, held by her dh Matt, and due to my previous plan to do the duathlon I stuck to that plan. but I thought of Matt & Liz & Maddie often on my ride....blessings, Matt, and hope your 5K went wonderfully!)

so....
the iron girl duathlon.

it's like a triathlon but without the swimming part.

as has been covered before, i don't know how to do this. yet. by next summer i plan to know.

today's duathlon was run 2 miles, bike 22, run 2.

and Iron Girl is for all women. 900+ of us. *including* Rena, my job swap anchor girl :) said a quick hello to her and to Diana Pierce, another KARE11 girl. and apparently this is the largest women's only duathlon in the nation....kinda cool.

anyway...(ADOS, right?)

woke up at 4:!5. didn't need the alarm as usual. woke up *earlier* than the 5 bells i had hoped for.

got myself ready, checked the news online, ate the proverbial pre-race banana, drank water, yada yada.

got to bloomington around 6:30am. i wasn't nervous per se, but i wasn't all calm either. just kinda 'what am i in for? how will this go?'

got my bike to the transition area. learned about drafting and other official terms and rules that i'd need to follow during the race.

felt like a total imposter...'why am i here? how did they let a novice like me in?'

but all went well.

Val found me right away. YAY! a familiar face! we were supposed to have 5 teamgirls of mine doing this event, but due to life's occurrences, only Val & I could do it.


she helped show me how to get my bike into the really crowded rack and then it was almost time for the start. (okay the below photo doesn't make it look that full, but believe me, they were! this was taken pretty early into pre-race set up...)


Aflac was the major sponsor, so instead of a horn for the start of each wave group there was a really loud AFLAC! duck sound. kinda different but fun...

First 2 miles were the warm up.....finished in about 20 min....

then, time to find the bike, put on the helmet, put on the gloves, figure out my new borrowed pedal basket clip things and off i go.

i didn't mean to, but i kinda left Val back during the bike part, but she had told me on the run part that i should just go....our bikes were pretty far apart in transition and she hasn't ridden lately at all, and i've done some training, albeit just some.

so i did the bike part (2 laps of 11 miles with some pretty good hills! my arss is still barkin at me!) solo and then got back to transition to take off the helmet, put on the visor and run my noodly legs for 2 more miles.

somehow i ran just shy of 9 minute miles for the last 2. how on earth i did that i don't know. i felt like i was s-l-o-g-g-i-n-g....like barely running.

then the finish line! HOO-RAY.



I got my medal, i got my Aflac duck sponge to soak off some of the salty skin i had goin, and waited at the finish to greet Val.

then it was time to eat!! good spread, found a few friends Val knew, and capped my first duathlon experience with another medal for my collection.


It was a gorgeous day, perfect weather, beautiful course and something i really really want to do again....ANYBODY can do this. The last finisher came through with a time of 3:30, almost 90 min past when I finished. but she got a rousing ovation from all of us cheering her and her friend on and it was actully really emotional to welcome them to the finish line! hung out for a little while longer, took some snapshots, and then packed up to head home.


now it's time to n-a-p.

i earned it today. monday will be here before i know it and it's back to the rat race of library life (which is a-okay!)...peace, ~jd

you find out who your friends are....

just like the song goes....

been a challenging few weeks especially.

so it's one day at a time i've decided. for now.

many challenges, nothing life or death, but i've been really sad. (family, don't worry. it's okay...life just has it's challenges sometimes)

i'm hoping this week goes muuuuuuuch better than last. but it's been day by day....get through one, hope for a better tomorrow....

a few updates:

*Mark & Rose are in France until later this week....a 6 day trip all for 2 gigs. Hey LW or SW....any cool conferences I can jet away to for work that match up to what Mark gets to do? ;)
probably not. darn.

*I have new cowboy boots that I am wishing went with everything professional i own to wear to work every day. Sadly, I'll have to wait until our once-a-year-yes-you-can-wear-jeans work day in November to wear them as an employee. :(

*Dogs are good. There have been some cooler nights in the past few weeks, meaning, yes, it's Jammie Time. If they don't wear their jammies and it's cold they get up during the night to nest nest nest nest nest nest, oh, and NEST, their blankets. SUPER annoying. Put the jammies on? they're much better...

*Cats are all just lovely. Ellie is the best at coming to see me at night, Lucy comes while I'm working on work stuff on the warm laptop. When she wanders up, I put the laptop aside and she takes residence in it's spot. purring away...

*I become an Iron Girl in one week. Run 2, bike 22, run 2. Get a medal. And celebrate with some great girls that night. I would absolutely suck living on a desert island by myself. I have to have my friends.

be well, stay warm (if you need that) and hope everyone has a good upcoming week...

summer turns to fall....

literally in about 4 hours.

left the house this morning to head to work...jungle feel outside. hot. humid. HU-MID.

leave the library for lunch....rain has since occurred and the temp is at least 15 degrees cooler.

aaaaaaahh..

also, i turn the page of the calendar to start a new month of stats in my running log.

August left me with these numbers:

Miles run: 109.7
Miles biked: 22.0
Grand total: 129.7

Time it took for all of this: 21:20:17

For someone who 3 years ago had never run a mile, to me, it's amazing to see this on paper. I'm still just an average Jane. Who happened to fall into the laps of an amazingly supportive and stellar group of women at a local gym a year ago, who have helped get me over some major goals since then. More to come....thanks, sistas~ couldn't/wouldn't have done it without all ya'll...

3 more major events for me racing wise in 2008 coming up in the next 6 weeks, then it's break time for a while. that doesn't mean no running, it just means cutting back without having to start over again next January. Iron Girl Duathlon in 19 days; TC 10 on Oct 5th and Whistlestop Half Marathon on Oct 13th. yeehaw! Time to groove it back to the workplace....~jd

a few updates...

1) taped the first part of the kare11 job swap this week. rena was very nice...very genuine. the kids who came to storytime were all 'regulars' save one mom who had come for the first time and had no idea what we were up to but she and her 10 month old were perfectly at ease. next week thursday i will arrive to work at 4:45am. 3 live teasers in the first hour between 5:30 and 6:30am, then my 'schtick' + edited footage for the series around 6:40. i have a few co-workers kidding me that they're going to show up early and watch me. i know they are joking. i sincerely want to know they are joking. in between the teasers i plan to actually work, even if it will be the one and only time i'll be in a library at those hours.

also helped teach a class about blogging on monday night to 10 of our fine citizens. i think it went well as everyone who left had set up an account. now for them to practice using blogger and navigating around their blog. an interesting new task at work...variety is good.

2) ever smashed a beer can on your head? come on. i'm sure a few of you have. or have tried.
today i decided that i'm not an iron girl yet. i'm a smashed aluminum can girl....it's been a stressful week, and i came home to burn off some energy and really start the training for my duathlon. so i hopped on the bike. biked 8 miles out and back to home. then locked up the bike and ran 2 miles. oh. my. word. that was probably the hardest physical thing i've done yet.

the first 5 minutes of running felt so drunk tired. like my legs were lead. but i pushed through it. was convinced i was running a 13 minute mile.

jorge the garmino told me when i got back that my first mile of 2.3 was a 9:32. sheesh. way faster than i thought i was running. so that was a well worth it muscle numbing workout. coach rudi and i are running 7 miles at 6:30 in the am before i head to work and then waitress tomorrow night.

2 more weeks and i have my last (for now) trip planned to the northland. not with mark. but with a girlfriend. which will be divine. and relaxing. and i'll take part in my first trail run that weekend too. the state fair starts soon. all foods unhealthy, fresh milk, lots of farm animals and millions of people. good times for 12 days every year. 2 miles from home. david and will hit it towards the end of the run....

so there's a few updates. dad & leesa, i'll call this weekend, likely sometime sunday....take care and be well...and GO TEAM USA during the Olympics starting tomorrow!

yep, i think i'm gonna perish early....

this duathlon thing is going to do me in.

i biked to work today....all of 2.7 miles. nothin' really.

then after work i biked to the gym. another 1.8 or so. whoopee.

then i ran 6 miles in an hour. cuz it's just not running weather when it's hot.

then i biked home all of 5 miles.

i am freakin' t-i-r-e-d.

so i really think after sept 21 (which happens to be a good friend's birthday) that might just be the end of me. for reals.

not sure they award dead people medals. guess we'll see....

right now i'm a soft pliable silly putty girl. NOTHING iron about me.

ally, this post is esp for you...

what i SHOULD have done tonight instead of work myself into a putty girl is shop for a new outfit for part one of my tv taping tomorrow. well gee, look at the money i saved i guess :)

~jd who has to shower, drink lots of water, then a beer and collapse on the couch, in that order.

huge challenge for me....

i am going to be an iron girl!

i am going to do my first duathlon!

run 2 miles, bike 22, run 2 more.

with women only. hear us roar!

another medal. another finish time. another first time experience.

all in bloomington mn in september.

i'm stoked.

i'm freaked.

i'm crazy engergized right now. (could be that i totally rocked out tonight in my one mile race....PR'd at 7:45!!! for me that's crazy fast....)

this event was something i first saw over 2 years ago in a local sports paper that really piqued my interest at the very start to my running adventures.

tomorrow night is the torchlight 5K. apparently we're doing a photo shoot in wedding dresses post race for a local radio station. i really have no idea why, but coach was all over the idea when the pr dept contacted our run club. so tomorrow evenin' is all about a fun run. and yet another thing to keep me going on the path i'm on with my phenomenal team...hoo-yah to an amazing day (including of course the superhero day job of being the kids storytime gal 2 times a week again..) be well...~jd